Alycia, the princess with royal fingers hardly does chores in the kitchen, much less cook or even reheat food in the microwave oven and wok. When she needs her food reheated, she gets my help, her grandma or Drama Queen.
On Saturday upon return from school, Alycia decided to reheat a pau (taken out from the fridge) in the microwave oven. I was at the piano class with Cass. The mil was in the bathroom and Drama Queen was busy working on the sound and effects on my PC for her school’s English drama competition.
A few minutes after I had stepped inside the house, Drama Queen nonchalantly commented that she smelled something burnt. I scampered to the kitchen and holy cow, there was a lot of smoke coming out from the microwave oven! I screamed “the microwave is on fire” and seconds later, the smoke detector beeped deafeningly. Alycia acted super quickly and ran to turn off the switch to the microwave oven. By now, the entire kitchen was blanketed in choking smoke.
We were all shocked and asked what happened. Alycia explained that she was only reheating a pau in the microwave oven and the first question I asked was “how long already?!” as she was at the dining table hooked to her mobile phone!
See, see, seeeeee! Mobile phone again. It’s killing you my dear Alycia!
Drama Queen countered and informed me that the pau was in the microwave oven for at least 15 minutes already.
15 minutes on high in the microwave oven for a pau is a LONG time! I normally reheat it for a few seconds with a few sprinkles of water on the pau.
O.M.G.!!
Thank God the microwave oven did not explode. Thank God we didn’t burn down the entire apartment, just like the Grenfell Apartment fire tragedy.
Thank God I got home just in the nick of time and everyone is saved. In accidents, every second counts. Every split second matters. Even a microsecond saved can prevent fatality.
Below: Alycia removing the smoke detector while Kakak Maria looks on. She was busy helping to fry fish, totally oblivious to the commotion in the dry kitchen.
Below: the aftermath of the near miss fire~ pau retrieved from the microwave oven. Thank God again that the bowl and plate did not break, catch fire and explode in the microwave oven. The microwave oven isn’t damaged at all, praise God!
But the entire kitchen had a very nasty smoke / burnt smell. I had to spray the kitchen many rounds with my homemade air freshener to clear the air and remove the odor. I wouldn’t want to spray air fresheners laden with harsh chemicals in my house, especially in the kitchen where food, cups and cutlery are everywhere. My homemade air freshener is all-natural and made with organic essential oils and water only.
I hope Alycia has learned a lesson out of this chilling experience.
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I once pressed 30 mins instead of 3 mins for the microwave. The glass Pyrex bowl cracked!
Hope Alycia learns from this and also knows how to use the microwave.
Also, please make sure u reinstall the smoke detector.
That must have scared the hell out of you! 30 mins is a long time on the microwave.
Thanks for the reminder on the reinstallation of the smoke detector! 🙂